Culture
Reading Time: 4 minutesWhen you think about Prohibition-era rum runners, the image of a fast-talking, fast-driving man usually comes to mind. But in the hills of Virginia, one woman stood out above all the men: Willie Carter Sharpe. Born in Floyd County in the early 1900s, Willie was destined for more than a quiet life in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Her journey from […]
Reading Time: 6 minutesI don’t think about fences much. I was raised in suburbia, where each backyard was cordoned off by some sort of fence. They kept the dogs in and the neighbors out. But driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia, I marveled at the ingenuity of the various fences. When you think about the breathtaking scenery along the Blue Ridge […]
Reading Time: 3 minutesIn 2012, I participated in the Heritage Tune competition at the Union Grove Old Time Fiddler’s Convention. The competition is open to musicians of any age who have competed in one of the festival’s twelve instrumental competitions. I competed in the Mountain Dulcimer category, so I was eligible for the Heritage Tune competition. One prize was awarded, consisting of cash […]
Reading Time: 4 minutesGo to any Old Time jam session in the area surrounding Galax, VA (“The World Capital of Old Time Music”), and the tune “Cripple Creek” will be played before night’s end. This melody has echoed through the hills and hollers of Appalachia for generations, becoming a staple in bluegrass and old-time music. Its lively tune and catchy lyrics capture the […]
Reading Time: 4 minutesAmid the harsh economic strains of the Great Depression, the unassuming craft of tobacco bag stringing emerged as a lifeline for many Blue Ridge families. This craft involved the simple—but tedious—task of threading drawstrings into tobacco bags. These bags held more than tobacco; they promised survival and a speck of prosperity for those who stitched their way through hard times. […]
Reading Time: 2 minutesStompin’ 76 was a landmark festival that, for one long weekend in 1976, made Bluegrass the center of the musical universe. Like New York’s iconic Woodstock festival in 1969, the event is legendary. Over 100,000 attended the event. Most attendees parked miles away—some on Interstate 77, more than eleven miles away—and walked up country roads to the festival near Galax, […]
Reading Time: 2 minutesIn ancient times, it was said that “all roads led to Rome.” Today, the same might be said of Damascus, VA. Damascus is the Blue Ridge Mountain town where seven recreational trails converge: the Appalachian Trail, the Virginia Creeper Trail, the Trans-America National Bicycle Trail, the Iron Mountain Trail, the Daniel Boone Heritage Trail, the Crooked Road Musical Heritage Trail, […]
Reading Time: 3 minutesThe moonshine still’s cook pot sits down the hill by the creek, mounted atop a stone furnace. The copper tubing leading to the cooling barrel is green with verdigris. The wooden chute that carried water to cool the steaming moonshine is green with moss, but the mash barrels look almost new. The U.S. government once went to great lengths to […]
Reading Time: 2 minutesBluegrass music and flatfoot dancing go together like bread and butter. Go to any event with live bluegrass music, and someone will set up a dancing platform or throw a piece of plywood on the ground and start flatfooting. Flatfooting, also known as clogging, foot-stomping, or buck-dancing, consists of dancing alone or in groups to up-tempo music, using enthusiastic footwork […]
Reading Time: 2 minutesPorta-Potty, Johnny-on-the-Spot, Outhouse, Portable toilet. Whatever you call them, they all have one thing in common: they stay put once you set them up. They don’t go anywhere. Unless you are in Independence, VA, on the second Sunday in October, when you will see outhouses running down the main street. The running outhouses are part of the Grand Privy Race […]
